ZYUGANOV BECOMES FIRST REGISTERED CANDIDATE . . . The Central Electoral
Commission has registered Communist Party (KPRF) leader Gennadii Zyuganov as
the first candidate for the 16 June presidential elections, Russian and Western
agencies reported on 4 March. Zyuganov may now officially begin campaigning and
may collect money from the electoral commission, which will be allocated to all
registered candidates. Along with a list of 1.7 million signatures supporting
his candidacy, Zyuganov submitted tax returns for the last two years to the
commission, declaring his total pre-tax income for 1995 at about 30 million
rubles ($6,300), Reuters reported. -- Laura Belin

. . . BUT MAY LOSE HARDLINE COMMUNIST SUPPORT. Representatives of 25
left-wing groups, including Agrarian Party leader Mikhail Lapshin and Power to
the People head Nikolai Ryzhkov, formed an electoral "bloc of popular patriotic
forces" and signed an agreement supporting Zyuganov as their sole presidential
candidate, Russian and Western agencies reported on 4 March. However, according
to RFE/RL and ITAR-TASS, some hardliners including Viktor Anpilov's Workers'
Russia, the Russian Communist Workers' Party, and Sergei Baburin's Russian
Public Union refused to sign the document because it does not call for a
restoration of the Soviet Union. Zyuganov said he still hopes to cooperate with
politicians such as Aleksandr Rutskoi, Aleksandr Lebed, Svyatoslav Fedorov, and
Stanislav Govorukhin, all of whom agreed last week to form a "third force"
supporting neither Yeltsin nor Zyuganov for president. -- Laura Belin

FIGHTING CONTINUES IN SERNOVODSK. Federal forces used artillery and
helicopter gunships on 4 March to attack what they claimed was a force of 500
separatist fighters in the western Chechen town of Sernovodsk, Russian and
Western agencies reported. Around 16,000 refugees have fled the town to
neighboring Ingushetiya. Although journalists have not been permitted to enter
the town, relief workers told NTV that shelling had destroyed a sanitarium that
houses refugees, burying 300 people in the ruins. -- Scott Parrish

GRACHEV CHANGES TUNE. Defense Minister Pavel Grachev retracted his
earlier statement about his willingness to meet separatist Chechen President
Dzhokhar Dudaev, Russian and Western agencies reported on 4 March. Earlier in
the course of his one-day visit to Grozny Grachev had said "for such a meeting,
I am willing to go anywhere." But following a meeting with Moscow-backed
Chechen Head of State Doku Zavgaev, Grachev declared it is "time to forget
about Dudaev," whom he described as a "murderer." Grachev, who later departed
for North Ossetiya, was gathering information for a meeting later this week of
the Russian Security Council, which will discuss ways to resolve the Chechen
conflict. Security Council Secretary Oleg Lobov, who is in hospital recovering
from heart bypass surgery, will miss the meeting. -- Scott Parrish

CHERNOMYRDIN ON YELTSIN CAMPAIGN. Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin
told Duma Speaker Gennadii Seleznev in a meeting on 4 March that if a deputy
prime minister is put in charge of Yeltsin's re-election headquarters, he will
work in that capacity on a "voluntary basis," NTV reported. Yeltsin's campaign
staff is currently headed by First Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets. A
spokesman for Soskovets said he currently works from 9.00 am to 6.00 pm for the
government, and then another two to two and a half hours for the Yeltsin
campaign. -- Laura Belin

WOMEN'S GROUPS APPEAL TO DUMA. Representatives of 53 women's
associations appealed to the Duma on 4 March to improve the legal status of
women, ITAR-TASS reported. The groups are concerned by the disproportionate
number of women are out of work (constituting 62% of the officially registered
unemployed) and that women are discriminated against in hiring and firing. The
appeal also drew attention to the sharp increase in salary differentials
between men and women and the lack of women in senior positions. It proposed
that the Duma create a body to assess all draft legislation from the point of
view of equal opportunities for men and women. -- Penny Morvant

NATIONALITIES MINISTRY REORGANIZED. President Yeltsin has reorganized
the Ministry of Nationalities and Regional Policy and renamed it the Ministry
of Nationalities and Federal Affairs, ITAR-TASS reported on 4 March. Vyacheslav
Mikhailov is to stay on as minister. -- Anna Paretskaya

ST. PETERSBURG MAYOR OPPOSES EXPANSION OF LEGISLATURE'S POWER. St.
Petersburg Mayor Anatolii Sobchak has turned down the city legislature's Law On
State Power Structure in St. Petersburg and returned it to the city's
Legislative Assembly, Ekspress-khronika reported on 5 March. According
to the bill, two-thirds of the legislature's deputies could pass a vote of no
confidence in any executive official of the city (see OMRI Daily Digest,
29 February 1996). Sobchak also signed laws on gubernatorial elections in the
city, proposing that a simple, one-round election be held due to the lack of
finances. -- Anna Paretskaya

RUSSIA CONDEMNS TIGHTENING OF CUBAN SANCTIONS. Foreign Ministry
spokesman Grigorii Karasin on 4 March criticized the toughened economic
sanctions against Cuba contained in proposed U.S. legislation, Russian and
Western agencies reported. In the aftermath of the recent incident in which
Cuban fighters shot down two U.S. light civilian aircraft, U.S. President Bill
Clinton has agreed to sign the bill, which contains provisions that have
provoked objections from the EU, Canada, and Mexico. Karasin termed the bill
"contradictory to international law" and said it "infringed on the rights of
sovereign states" by allowing U.S. nationals to sue foreign citizens using
expropriated property in Cuba formerly owned by U.S. citizens. -- Scott
Parrish

RUSSIAN ARMY EMPLOYS LARGE NUMBER OF GENERALS. Citing the General
Staff's latest report, Obshchaya gazeta reported on 3 March that there
are currently 1,800 generals in the 1.5 million strong Russian Armed Forces,
with one general for each 833 servicemen. An additional 3,000 generals serve in
paramilitary forces of the Interior Ministry, Federal Security Service,
External Intelligence Service, and other government agencies. A general's
average monthly salary is 2.1 million rubles ($438). -- Constantine Dmitriev

RUSSIA TO BOOST MILITARY EXPORTS TO INDIA. A 70-member Russian
delegation arrived in New Delhi on 4 March to participate in an international
exhibition of military and civilian equipment, Russian and Western media
reported the same day. Russian military manufacturers have brought samples of
brand-new "Konkurs-M" anti-tank missiles, "S-300" air defense systems, "Smerch"
multiple-launch rocket systems, and other kinds of military equipment. In 1994,
the two countries signed a six-year agreement on military-technical cooperation
worth $7 billion, and in 1995 Russia sold the Indian Air Force $220 million
worth of MiG-29 jet fighters. -- Constantine Dmitriev

FIRE CAUSES CHAOS ON MOSCOW METRO. A fire broke out in the Moscow metro
on 4 March, bringing the city's circle line to a halt during the morning rush
hour, Russian and Western agencies reported. Four people were slightly injured
as a result of the incident, caused by a short circuit in a stretch of
high-voltage cable in a tunnel. Concern over subway safety mounted last year
following a fire in the Soviet-era metro in the Azerbaijani capital Baku that
killed about 300 people. Moscow subway workers have long complained that
maintenance work is underfunded, and Izvestiya quoted the head of the
Metrostroi company as saying equipment in older stretches of the system is so
worn out that there could be a repetition of Monday's accident with more
serious consequences. -- Penny Morvant

STAVROPOL MANAGERS FINED FOR WITHHOLDING WAGES. The Stavropol Krai labor
inspectorate has fined the heads of 34 businesses and organizations in the
region for paying wages late, ITAR-TASS reported on 4 March. The fines varied
from 500,000 rubles to 3 million ($100 to $600). Managers of another 92
organizations have been set deadlines for the payment of wage arrears. Krai
Governor Petr Marchenko, appointed by President Yeltsin after the Budennovsk
hostage crisis last summer, issued a resolution threatening to fire managers
and officials guilty of withholding wages. Also on 4 March, presidential
economics adviser Aleksandr Livshits reiterated the government's intention to
eliminate budget wage arrears by the end of March. -- Penny Morvant

NEW ATOMIC POWER STATIONS. Atomic Energy Minister Viktor Mikhailov said
on 4 March that four atomic reactors of the new light-water VVER-640 design
will be built in the next few years, ITAR-TASS reported. A new complex is under
construction at Sosnovyi Bor near St. Petersburg, and other blocs will be added
to the existing Kalinin and Novo-Voronezh reactors. Russia currently has 29
reactors at nine sites, four of them added in the last decade. Eight of the
first-generation reactors are due to be dismantled by 2001. -- Peter Rutland

SOME GOOD NEWS FROM MURMANSK. The 150,000 worker Apatit chemical and
fertilizer plant, which was bought by Menatep Bank in 1994, is now showing
signs of economic recovery, according to a report in the pro-communist
Pravda on 5 March. Output has fallen by half since 1991, and by the end
of 1995 the average wage was only 400,000 rubles, and the minimum consumption
basket for Murmansk Oblast, where Apatit is located, is 560,000. However, in
response to worker protests wages were raised 30% in January and the factory
reintroduced subsidies for canteen food and public transport. Fertilizer is one
of the few sectors of the Russian economy which saw output grow in 1995 (by
17%), largely driven by rising exports. -- Peter Rutland

DIAMOND DEAL DETAILS. ITAR-TASS released on 4 March some details of a
three-year agreement between Russia and South Africa's De Beers signed on 23
February. De Beers' will continue to sell 95% of the first $550 million of
Russia's rough diamond exports. Russia will be allowed to independently export
20% of diamonds above the $550 million level, and promised to curtail the
"leakage" of stones onto the world market outside the De Beers contract. Russia
was estimated to have some 25% of the $5 billion world trade in uncut stones in
1995. -- Natalia Gurushina

MOSCOW-BERLIN ART EXHIBITION OPENS. The exhibition
"Moscow-Berlin/Berlin-Moscow," covering Russian and German art from 1900 to
1950, opened on 5 March at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, Russian and Western
agencies reported. ITAR-TASS reported that the exhibition is aimed at
illuminating "objectively and without bias" both the positive moments in the
two nations' histories and the destructive results of the clashes between them.
However, some works shown in the Berlin Gallery were removed from the Pushkin
Museum version, including two portraits of Hitler and Stalin working at their
desks and another pair of similar paintings depicting idealized family life in
Nazi Germany and Stalin's USSR. -- Laura Belin

TRIAL OF OPON REBELS IN AZERBAIJAN. The military bench of Azerbaijan's
Supreme Court found Elchin Aliev, a former OPON police officer, guilty of
murdering Deputy Parliamentary Chairman Afiyaddin Jalilov and Security Chief
Shamsi Ragimov in 1994, Reuters reported on 4 March. Both men were close aides
of Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliev. Three other OPON officers were sentenced
to jail terms of 13 or 14 years and one other received two years. Elchin Aliev
and other rebel OPON members fled to Russia but were extradited in late 1995.
-- Lowell Bezanis

VELAYATI-HASANOV TRADE ACCUSATIONS. During his recent visit to Baku,
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati traded barbs with his Azerbaijani
counterpart, Hasan Hasanov, at a joint press conference on 3 March, Western
agencies and Turan reported. Velayati repeated Tehran's demand that Azerbaijan
limit its ties with Israel, while Hasanov criticized Iran for its close ties
with Armenia. He accused Tehran of helping circumvent the Baku-imposed economic
blockade on Armenia. Relations between the two countries have been particularly
frosty since April 1995 when Baku, at the behest of the U.S., effectively
insured that Tehran would not participate in the exploitation of three offshore
Caspian Sea oil fields. -- Lowell Bezanis

GEORGIA CALLS FOR TIGHTER BLOCKADE OF ABKHAZIA. A spokesman for Georgian
President Eduard Shevardnadze complained that food and fuel are still reaching
Abkhazia "without permission," Reuters reported on 3 March. He claimed that
food is being delivered by sea from Turkey and fuel from Stavropol Krai in
Russia. The Abkhaz authorities have decided to set up a new battalion, named
Kolkheti, in Gali District, Iberia news agency reported on 2 March. It will be
staffed by ethnic Georgians and headed by Yurii Badzaghua, a comrade-in-arms of
former Georgian president Zviad Gamsakhurdia. -- Irakli Tsereteli and Lowell
Bezanis

IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN UKRAINE. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar
Velayati visited Kiev on 4-5 March, ITAR-TASS reported. Velayati met with his
Ukrainian counterpart Hennadii Udovenko and Prime Minister Yevhen Marchuk.
Talks focused on economic issues. Iran invited Ukraine to participate in a free
economic zone being created along Iran's and Turkmenistan's border, and
Udovenko and Velayati stressed the importance of realizing the trilateral
agreement between Iran, Ukraine, and Turkmenistan over Turkmen gas deliveries
to Ukraine. Under the agreement, Iran covers part of Ukraine's gas bill to
Turkmenistan. Udovenko and Velayati noted that their countries held similar
positions on most regional and international issues. Velayati flew to Belarus
at the end of the visit, and will also visit Russia. -- Ustina Markus

ESTONIA, FLANDERS SIGN COOPERATION AGREEMENT. Flanders Prime Minister
Luc van den Brande and Estonian Foreign Minister Siim Kallas on 4 March signed
an agreement on cooperation in transport, trade, tourism, science, and culture,
BNS reported. Flanders has signed similar agreements with Hungary and Poland.
In meetings with Prime Minister Tiit Vahi, President Lennart Meri, and
Agriculture Minister Ilmar Mandmets, van den Brande noted the problems smaller
languages and cultures face in the process of European integration, but
expressed support for Estonia's entry into the European Union. -- Saulius
Girnius

OUTBREAK OF SWINE FEVER IN LATVIA. The Estonian veterinary service on 4
March imposed a 12-month ban on the import of swine, pork, and pork products
from Latvia due to an outbreak of swine fever in the Talsi region of Latvia,
BNS reported. Arnolds Zilinskis of the Latvian veterinary service said that the
last outbreak of swine fever in Latvia was in 1993. At that time, no
vaccinations were carried out in Talsi and five other regions. -- Saulius
Girnius

BELARUS COMPLETES CFE AIRCRAFT REDUCTIONS. Belarus has met its
obligations in aircraft reductions as specified by the CFE treaty, Belarusian
television reported on 2 March. Under the terms of the treaty, Belarus was to
dismantle 130 military aircraft. The last were destroyed at the air base at
Baranavichi with an inspection group from Norway overlooking the operation. By
26 April, Belarus should fulfill all of its treaty reductions. Under the terms
of the treaty, the reductions should have been completed by November 1995. In
February 1995, Belarus suspended its reductions because of financial
difficulties, and only resumed them after Western countries promised additional
aid. Because of its geographic position, Belarus had been the most militarized
republic in the former USSR. -- Ustina Markus

WALESA CALLS FOR PARTY CONSOLIDATION. Former Polish President Lech
Walesa said on 4 March he expects the parties that emerged from the
"Solidarity" trade union to agree on a common basic program and run on the same
list during the forthcoming parliamentary elections. At a public meeting held
at the University of Gdansk, Walesa recommended at most two party lists. The
public opinion organization "Demoskop" says that if Walesa succeeds in
constructing a center-right alliance, the chances are that the bloc will gain
30% of the vote. This would put it ahead of the Democratic Left Alliance (28%).
If the Freedom Union (UW) and Jan Olszewski's Movement for Poland's
Reconstruction (ROP) run separately, Walesa's bloc could count on 21% support,
Gazeta Wyborcza reported on 5 March. -- Dagmar Mroziewicz

MYSTERIOUS ARSON AT POLISH JOURNALIST'S APARTMENT. A fire was set during
the night of 2-3 March outside the Warsaw apartment of Polish political
journalist Jerzy Slawomir Mac, who has recently written articles about spying
allegations against former Prime Minister Jozef Oleksy and financial support
given to Poland's communist party by Moscow. Mac said he and other journalists
at Wprost had recently received threatening letters and phone calls. He
told Polish Television that he suspected the arson was politically motivated.
One suspect was arrested on 4 March and two others detained but initial
evidence points to a purely criminal and not political act, Polish dailies
reported. In other news, Dariusz Fikus, the 64-year old editor-in-chief of the
Rzeczpospolita daily, died of a heart attack on 2 March. -- Jakub
Karpinski

CZECH PREMIER IN BELGRADE, FOREIGN MINISTER IN MOSCOW. Vaclav Klaus,
beginning a two-day visit to rump Yugoslavia and Croatia, on 4 March called for
Belgrade to be reintegrated into international organizations, Czech media
reported. "I personally regard is as reasonable and rational because it is
senseless for Yugoslavia to remain outside," he was quoted as saying. Klaus had
talks with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and rump Yugoslav Prime
Minister Radoje Kontic, centering on boosting trade links and removing
bilateral visa requirements. Meanwhile, Josef Zieleniec discussed repayment of
Russian commercial debts to the Czech Republic - worth some $380 million - with
Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin during a visit to Moscow. -- Steve
Kettle

SLOVAK JUSTICE MINISTRY PREPARES DRAFT LAW ON PROTECTION OF REPUBLIC.
Slovak National Party (SNS) deputy chairwoman Anna Malikova expressed
satisfaction with the Justice Ministry's proposed amendment to the criminal
code, Narodna obroda reported on 5 March. Malikova, noting that the
amendment was inspired by her party's law on the protection of the republic
which was drafted last April, said the SNS will submit the legislation to the
parliament this month. Although the ministry's draft has not yet been
publicized, the SNS version would inflict punishment on participants in
activities aimed against Slovakia, including activities which are only "a
potential threat." Other crimes would include "the spreading of false news on
Slovak territory or abroad which endangers the security of the republic or
damages its interests." The bill is reportedly aimed mainly against
representatives of the Hungarian minority and journalists. -- Sharon Fisher

UPDATE ON KIDNAPPING OF SLOVAK PRESIDENT'S SON. Christian Democratic
Movement deputy Ladislav Pittner, a former interior minister who now heads an
independent group investigating the Michal Kovac Jr. abduction, announced on 4
March that the case could be closed within a month, Narodna obroda
reported. Pittner said his group, which was created a month ago because of
dissatisfaction with the state of the police investigation, already has
evidence pointing to the participation of the Slovak Information Service. In
other news, Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar's long-awaited invitation for an
official visit to Germany will not arrive until the kidnapping case is cleared
up, Narodna obroda reported on 5 March, quoting "well-informed sources"
in Bonn. Germany has apparently coordinated this position with other EU
members, the paper said. -- Sharon Fisher

HUNGARY'S MDF SPLITS. The Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF), the
country's major opposition party and senior coalition partner in the former
government, split into two on 4 March, Hungarian and international media
reported. The split followed the MDF national convention, which was called to
decide on the future direction of the party, and the election of a new party
presidium (see OMRI Daily Digest, 4 March 1996). The election of Sandor
Lezsak as president led to the more liberal members of MDF to dissociate
themselves from the party. The group, led by former executive president and
parliamentary caucus leader Ivan Szabo, includes former senior members of MDF,
among them Geza Jeszenszky, Gyorgy Szabad and Imre Konya. After reconciliation
talks with Lezsak failed, Szabo announced the formation of the Hungarian
Democratic People's Party. Szabo and his adherents will form a new caucus in
parliament once their party is registered later this week. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

COURT ACQUITS HUNGARIAN NEO-NAZIS. A municipal court in Budapest found
the leaders of two extreme right-wing organizations innocent of violating the
law which bans incitement to hatred and use of prohibited symbols, Hungarian
media reported on 5 March. In the first ever neo-Nazi trial in Hungary, which
began last November, chief defendants Albert Szabo, 41, and Istvan Gyorkos, 55,
were acquitted under freedom of speech provisions. The two men have used
prohibited swastika-like symbols and circulated neo-Nazi propaganda material.
They were arrested after a march in Budapest on 23 October 1995. The president
of the Hungarian Jewish Communities, Peter Feldmajer, said that the court
decision "only focuses attention on the shortcomings of Hungarian legislation
in this regard". The state prosecutor said an appeal will be launched and the
case will go to the Supreme Court. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

SERBS LAUNCH NEW WAVE OF ETHNIC CLEANSING. Serbs arriving from Sarajevo
have begun forcing some of the few remaining Muslims and Croats in the Banja
Luka area from their homes. Onasa on 4 March quoted a UN spokesman as saying
that reports of expulsions are coming in "almost daily." Elderly Serbs were
said to be moving into empty houses vacated earlier by Muslims and Croats in
Trebinje, the Serbian stronghold in eastern Herzegovina. Meanwhile in Brussels,
NATO has been discussing the idea of putting teeth into IFOR's mandate to
enable it to take a more active role in catching war criminals and protecting
the evidence of war crimes, AFP reported on 4 March. -- Patrick Moore

FRENCH OFFICIALS FREE KARADZIC'S VICE PRESIDENT. French police briefly
arrested Bosnian Serb Vice President Nikola Koljevic In Paris on 2 March on the
basis of an international arrest warrant issued in Sarajevo in 1992 for
genocide, AFP noted on 4 March. He was freed after French government officials
intervened and he went on with an advisor to Radovan Karadzic to visit the
Serbian community in France. In The Hague, indicted war criminal General
Djordje Djukic of the Serbian army said he "does not feel himself guilty" as
charged, Nasa Borba wrote on 5 March. And in Croatia, the Helsinki
Committee reported on atrocities committed against mainly elderly Serbs by
uniformed Croats in Krajina since the area fell last summer, Novi list
reported. -- Patrick Moore

BILDT, REHN: TRIALS FOR WAR CRIMINALS ESSENTIAL TO PEACE. Carl Bildt,
the high representative for civilian affairs in Bosnia, told an international
conference in Vienna on 4 March that the prosecution of alleged war criminals
before the Hague-based international tribunal is a crucial element in the
Bosnia peace process, AFP and Nasa Borba reported. The UN reporter on
human rights in former Yugoslavia, Elisabeth Rehn, said recognition of rump
Yugoslavia must depend on the human rights situation there. She appealed to the
international community to make the lifting of sanctions and provision of
reconstruction assistance to Yugoslavia contingent on that. Bildt announced
that the chamber of human rights, an independent court of justice, would be
constituted in the middle of March. The conference, held to discuss the human
rights provisions of the Dayton accords, was sponsored by the Austrian Foreign
Ministry and attended by 150 delegates from 30 countries. -- Daria Sito Sucic

TUDJMAN APPOINTS NEW ZAGREB LEADER. Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on
2 March named Marina Matulovic-Dropulic as a commissioner to fulfill the duties
of mayor of Zagreb, Croatian media reported the following day. Tudjman earlier
refused to confirm two candidates for mayor nominated by the opposition
majority on the city council, and instead decided to appoint a commissioner
while calling for new elections. Zagreb City Assembly President Zdravko Tomac
said the council would not confirm Matulovic- Dropulic's appointment. The
opposition alliance will nominate another candidate for the post of mayor, Hina
reported. "We will not give in, because it is Zagreb that will decide whether
democracy is to stay or vanish," Vjesnik quoted Tomac as saying. --
Daria Sito Sucic

WILL SESELJ DIVIDE THE SERBIAN OPPOSITION? Nasa Borba on 5 March
runs a series of articles which attempt to evaluate the impact of the
controversial Serbian Radical party (SRS) and its leader, accused war criminal
Vojislav Seselj, on opposition party relations. A recurring theme appears to be
a suspicion in opposition ranks that any serious cooperation aimed at forging
unity aimed to dislodge the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia likely shall not
or cannot include the SRS. In one piece, titled "What Opposition Colleagues Say
About the Radicals," Aleksandar Cotric of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO)
argues: "The question is just whether or not Seselj is really even a member of
the opposition, because everybody remembers a time when there was tight
cooperation [between the SRS] and the socialists...when he [Seselj] even told
his voters to cast their ballot for Milosevic for president." -- Stan
Markotich

SLOVENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN EGYPT. Zoran Thaler met in Cairo with
Egyptian Prime Minister Kamal Ahmad al-Janzuri and Foreign Minister Amr Musa on
3 March, STA reported that same day. At the top of the agenda were continuing
and developing bilateral economic ties, but the possibility for
Slovenian-Egyptian cooperation on issues relating to Bosnia-Herzegovina was
also discussed. "Slovenia and Egypt have a similar point of view on resolving
the Bosnia crisis...and [our] two countries will cooperate in reconstruction
projects for Bosnia and Herzegovina," said Thaler. -- Stan Markotich

METRO STRIKE CAUSES TRAFFIC CHAOS IN BUCHAREST. Metro workers in
Bucharest on 4 March went on an indefinite strike to press demands for a 30%
pay rise and better terms, Radio Bucharest reported. The strikes will be held
daily from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. to get around legal requirements that metro workers
must not strike for more than two-thirds of the 19-hour-a-day timetable. The
strike has affected some 700,000 commuters in Romania's capital who use the
underground rail network regularly. On 4 March, thousands of commuters lined up
at bus and tram stops despite low temperatures of some -10 Celsius. Romania's
Transport Ministry declared the strike "illegal" and "unwarranted," pointing at
the fact that the metro system receives state subsidies. Premier Nicolae
Vacaroiu also spoke of an "illegal" strike and urged the workers to resume
their activity. -- Dan Ionescu

SIX ROMANIANS DIE IN JERUSALEM BOMB ATTACK. Five Romanian guest workers
and a tourist were among the victims of last weekend's suicide bomb attack in
Jerusalem, Romanian and international media reported on 3-5 March. President
Ion Iliescu condemned the attack, and expressed hopes that such fanatical acts
would not derail the peace process. The Romanian Foreign Ministry released the
names of the six victims and said the bodies will be repatriated on 6 March. --
Matyas Szabo

BULGARIAN INTEREST RATE GOES UP. The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) on 4
March raised the prime interest rate by 7%, Pari reported. The new rate
of 49% becomes effective on 6 March. BNB Governor Lyubomir Filipov said "chaos
on the currency market" necessitated the move but he hopes the rate will fall
under 25% by the end of 1996. The raise came just one month after the BNB
raised the prime interest rate from 34% to 42% on 1 February. In 1995, the rate
was lowered seven times. Trud cited Filipov as saying that without help
Bulgaria can not meet its obligations to repay foreign debts in 1996 because it
would have to use its foreign currency reserves which would further devalue the
lev. 24 chasa said the BNB's foreign currency reserves fell from $1.4
billion on November 1995 to $930 million. -- Stefan Krause

BULGARIAN UPDATE. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic
Development Rumen Gechev and Interior Minister Lyubomir Nachev are likely to be
replaced soon, 24 chasa reported on 5 March. A report by the Bulgarian
Socialist Party's (BSP) sociopolitical commission said they must leave the
government of Prime Minister Zhan Videnov immediately. BSP Deputy chairman
Georgi Parvanov called for immediate personnel changes, an intensified fight
against crime, and a smoother implementation of economic reforms. In other
news, Standart reported that official documents were falsified in order
to allow for increased grain exports. The Confederation of Independent Trade
Unions in Bulgaria (KNSB) claims that more than one million tons of grain were
exported instead of the 500,000 tons the government had approved, thus causing
a severe grain shortage. -- Stefan Krause

GREEK "SPY STORY" UPDATE. Greece on 4 March demanded that Italy and the
Netherlands replace their military attaches, Reuters reported. Rome and The
Hague had recalled the attaches after Athens accused them of spying (see
OMRI Daily Digest, 4 March 1996). A senior government official said
Greece "will not accept the same people." Dutch Foreign Minister Hans van
Mierlo called the row "a little storm in a very big teacup" and said there was
no question of the Netherlands spying on a NATO partner. But parliamentary
deputies in The Hague said that if Greece does not withdraw its accusation it
will be asked to recall a diplomat from the Netherlands. Italy said it will not
send its military attache back until Athens ends the "blown-up episode." --
Stefan Krause

TWO ALBANIAN PAPERS CLOSE DOWN. The Koha Jone publishing house
has announced it will close down two of its smaller publications to overcome a
financial crisis following a police crackdown on its delivery system, Gazeta
Shqiptare reported on 3 March. Editors-in-Chief Nikolle Lesi and Aleksander
Frangaj argued that Koha Jone is forced to close down AKS and
Sport Ekspres as police are continuing to impound nine of the daily's
delivery vans, some for over a month. Koha Jone has also been charged
with tax evasion for wrongly registering as a magazine rather than a newspaper.
-- Fabian Schmidt

FOUR ALBANIANS ARRESTED FOR FOUNDING COMMUNIST PARTY. A Tirana court
ordered the continued detention of three people who tried to re-found a
Communist Party and youth organization, Koha Jone reported on 5 March. A
fourth man, aged 73, has been put under house arrest. All those arrested are
over 50 years old and will be charged with founding anti-constitutional parties
or organizations. -- Fabian Schmidt